House of Peoples of BiH Parliament Adopts Budget for 2022

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - At today's emergency session of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bill on the Budget of BiH Institutions and BiH's International Obligations for 2022 was adopted, which had previously passed in the House of Representatives.

Eight delegates voted "yes", two voted against, and one abstained.

The Bosniak Caucus planned to propose a conclusion instructing the Council of Ministers of BiH to amend the Law on Salaries in BiH Institutions. These amendments to the law would have stipulated a 12.4 percent reduction in the coefficient for everyone whose coefficient is higher than 4. However, this was not enabled.

Asim Sarajlić (SDA), president of the Bosniak People's Delegates Caucus, stated that this would mean a reduction in salaries for officials, while vulnerable categories would not be affected.

The justification for this conclusion was the fact that the base for salaries was increased for everyone to 535 KM, and it was applied in the budget.

- There has been a disproportionate increase in salaries - it was stated in the conclusion.

However, the Speaker of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament, Nikola Špirić (SNSD), stated that only amendments, of which there are none, are being discussed now, and it is not possible to vote on conclusions according to the rules of procedure.

After that, Sarajlić announced that the Bosniak Caucus would immediately submit amendments to the Law on Salaries and Benefits in BiH Institutions for urgent procedure today.

Delegate Amir Fazlić (SDA) commented that he knows this is the amendment phase, and he "congratulated" Špirić on how the rules of procedure are sometimes respected and sometimes not.

- Now we are in a situation where we cannot even propose a conclusion, to emphasize that we are asking the Council of Ministers of BiH for it, and everyone expressed their will today that we must not allow salaries to increase - Fazlić added.

Delegates Denis Bećirović and Zlatko Miletić of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly spoke on several occasions during the discussion that they are against the adoption of the budget of institutions for 2022.

They pointed out that the proposal is immoral and that it needs to be returned to the Council of Ministers of BiH for revision, and they also called on the BiH Presidency to get involved in amending the budget provisions.

Dragan Čović, leader of HDZ and Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples of the BiH PA, did not attend the session. Speaker Nikola Špirić (SNSD) said his absence was justified. Čović attended the opening of the Neum-Stolac road.

The session was held anyway because there was a quorum.

With this adoption, an increase of 500 KM for parliamentarians and ministers was also supported because the base is the same for everyone.

As a reminder, the House of Representatives of the BiH PA adopted the proposal of the budget of BiH institutions for this year on June 27, in the text as it was submitted to the parliamentary procedure by the BiH Presidency.

The Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the Draft Law on the Budget of BiH Institutions and BiH's International Obligations for 2022 on June 6, which was then sent to the BiH Presidency as the authorized proposer.

Total revenues, receipts, and financing of BiH institutions in 2022 amount to 1,073,600,000 KM, which is an increase of eight percent, or 77,600,000 KM compared to the budget of BiH institutions for 2020, while servicing BiH's external debt amounts to 819,189,119 KM and is higher by 11,636,188 KM or one percent compared to the budget for 2020.

The BiH Presidency determined the Bill on the Budget of BiH Institutions and BiH's International Obligations for 2022 on June 8, with an amendment to the text of the Budget Law. The amendment is that 2 million and 800 thousand KM are transferred from the current reserve item to the Central Election Commission of BiH item, i.e., the funds that were missing for the organization of the general elections in BiH.

The Bill on the Budget of BiH Institutions was the only item on the proposed agenda of the emergency session of the House of Peoples of the BiH PA.

By adopting the budget, an increase in salaries for ministers and parliamentarians by 500 KM was also supported. This is under the same item in the budget which includes an increase in the base for employees in state institutions by up to 80 KM.

Since the budget was adopted in the House of Representatives, numerous reactions have followed. Citizens, in smaller groups, protested in front of the Parliament for two days, outraged by this move, and they did the same today.

Certain BiH politicians also commented, stating that it was a deception and that the budget was "insidiously made" to such an extent that it was impossible to understand from the items that it was about increasing the salaries of parliamentarians and ministers.

Zlatko Miletić, an independent delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had previously stated that he was the initiator of increasing salaries for civil servants, but that politicians had used it to increase their own income, 11 times more.

Accordingly, politicians from opposition parties did not vote for the budget in the House of Peoples today.